As Whitman said so eloquently, "I am fill’d with them, and I will fill them in return." Thoughts, that is, about being a librarian.

Librarianship

November 07, 2008

I'm in my second full day at the Charleston Conference and am floored by the intensity and overwhelming amount of information and presentation. So many good presentations to choose from, so little time! I only wish there was more time to see more sessions. Within each concurrent session time slot, there are at least 4 or 5 sessions I'm interested in attending. Its proving to be a tough choice. Today, Tim Spalding from LibraryThing was supposed to give a talk on social cataloging; however, Tim's flight was delayed and he was stuck in Cleveland (poor guy!). Another talk was given by Andrew Pace on "webscale workflow", emphasizing the need for discontinuation of our independent silos and a more cost-effective and efficient streamlined networked library management systems he calls the webscale workflow. Here is just a sampling of some the trends & themes I'm encountering here at Charleston:

- Creation of a peer review watermark and/or symbol to indicate trustworthiness of documents and webpages on the web (a la Creative Commons symbol for copyright)

- RDA (Resource Description & Access) -- what is it, will it succeed, will it die? This is a new one to me, not being familiar with the ins and outs of cataloging, but this will have implications for us with regards to metadata and cataloging our digital content

- OCLC's WorldCat Selection to streamline ordering and acquisitions of materials via one system without having to go to multiple vendors and/or publishers and/or jobbers

- Change in Technical Services operations; reorganizing and changing workflows of Technical Services operations as our organizations change in response to new and different services and priorities

- Scholarly communication -- what does it mean for libraries, how does it impact libraries and our workflows, what do we do with Institutional repositories, scholarly content created on our campuses and digitization of this material?

- Google and the settlement with the publishers/authors -- sounds like a really complicated settlement, but it might mean the way to increased access to material all over the U.S.

July 31, 2008

I'm beginning my post a couple of hours after the negative encounter. And, I'm dealing with stifling the urge to just rant about the bad behavior. But, I'm learning to be a manager, so I am not going to do that. I am going to use this experience as a teachable moment, learn from it and apply it in the future. I pop in my earbuds, load iTunes and listen to my girl, Lucinda, all the while fuming.

Set-up: I am in the awkward situation of moving into a position which is still held by a librarian currently working, but whose last day is in two weeks. This librarian is not leaving under good circumstances. It has been advised by some in my organization to not bother discussing job duties with the incumbent. I decided that it would be best to just ask this person for a meeting to discuss issues and ask for some advice, rather than ignore the situation. My A.D. thought it might be a good idea, if handled with sensitivity to this person's plight.

Things I learned from today's meeting:

Prepare for hostility. Just because you are a nice person doesn't mean everyone else is. I was floored by this librarian's animosity to my questions. Even though s/he had agreed to my request for a meeting didn't mean s/he wanted to help.

Confront the issue earlier. I waited too long for help and should have asked this person's advice a couple of months ago. Just a few weeks before their last day was not going to really be useful for me and this person made that fact the cornerstone of their comments to me. I'm never good at confronting people, and this case was even more intimidating, but s/he had a point: Why are coming to me now??

You may never be able to work with everyone. Enough said.

Just because you think you are being the bigger person does not mean the other person sees you as such.

Realize that you have much to offer this organization, remain confident in your abilities, and do not let a negative encounter ruin that. Take what this person had to say, reflect on their words and the history behind them, and learn from it.

Years of experience does not an expert make. One of this person's comments was that I am not experienced in this new area and will find my new job difficult, and frankly, won't be able to succeed. The librarian then proceeded to vent about their marginalization in our organization. My first thought was: Do not ever forget that you make your own choices. If I don't ever try to move outside my pigeonholed existence, will I ever know if I can do it?

If you don't take risks, you wind up becoming obsolete. This was a running theme.

There's lots more (I'm positive), but I don't wish to beat the proverbial dead horse. I just want to learn and try and explore. Negativity be damned.

May 13, 2008

I have been ruminating for the past week on how to develop a comprehensive profile of our academic faculty. I have been on this campus for the past six years, and was an undergraduate here, so I know quite a bit about the major stakeholders on campus. What puzzles me is the lack of focus in our library on reaching out to these constiuencies and getting more input regarding library collections and services. Well, I guess that is what I'm here for. I'm beginning to realize (and its a bit of a "duh" moment for me) that one of the major reasons for pulling me into this position isn't because of any wonderful fuzzy feelings about my management style or administrative abilities. I think they want me to schmooze. Its finally come to management's (I feel like Samson on Carnivale) attention that we need to develop relationships. That we cannot continue to do business the same old way and expect our budgets to keep shrinking and still make everyone happy using the same old formulas and uneasy alliances. In fact, I am getting the distinct feeling that it is what they want me to do. And that is not a problem for me. I'm confident I can work proactively with the faculty and address their concerns, but I'm also feeling a sense of "wow, why haven't we done this before?" or "I can't believe we aren't doing this now!" and a somewhat sinking feeling of "..ohmigod, why did this happen this year!".Today we had a meeting to discuss our electronic resources purchases (and, even thought it is called an "evaluation" meeting, it was most...decidedly...NOT) and our new library faculty kept saying things like, "we need to do more promotion" and "why don't we ask the faculty if they use this" and I sat there, next to the person I am about to replace, and thought about all the little things that could have been done to develop relationships on this campus...but weren't. No one had any answers to questions about what databases our faculty and students were using for research. We know what we are teaching in classes, but have not asked the faculty to give us information about the resources they want their students to use. So, I don't think, in the end, it will be about schmoozing, per se, but taking the time to ask tough questions (both in and outside the library), find out faculty's concerns about the library and ask all the librarians who are involved in working with faculty (whether it is instruction, reference, IT, access services, serials, etc.) to brainstorm and do outreach every way they possibly can. I will be here to provide guidance, coordination and give them the tools and resources to do this, but it cannot possibly be just a one person job.

May 08, 2008

This post has been percolating in my brain for a few days. I've been noticing a trend and wonder if other academic librarians (or just libraries in general) see it too. Currently, I'm serving on two very different search committees for library positions and am bothered by some details (or lack thereof) that I notice across all applications, regardless of job description. This isn't just one application or applicant, but a whole series of common errors.

If you are applying for a position at an academic institution, do some background research about the school and the job. Don't assume because it is an IT job that it is in the campus IT department. Read the whole job description.

For that matter, why are you NOT reading the job description? This is the fault of library schools - I believe I took a management course (thanks to KDH who reminded me) where the faculty member told us to apply for "... every library job you can find, regardless of whether or not you are qualified...". ARRGH! What a waste of my time...and yours.

So, if you aren't qualified but know you can wow us in the interview and have skills that are transferable and relevant to the job description, admit it in the cover letter and go to great lengths to prove to us that even though you don't have the experience, you are more than willing to learn and make up for a lack of knowledge with enthusiasm and initiative.

Ok, this next one is just me (I think), but why aren't applicants proofreading their portfolios? Is it too much to expect that someone who is applying for a library position be detail-oriented?

This one goes along with #1 -- do some research and find out who is in charge of the search committee, or if you can't find that information, find out who the library director is. It shows you took some time to find out about us (or were paying attention to the job notice).

Get the job title right! Geez...

Any to add or is just curmudgeonly ol' me? Taking the time to put together a well-written, carefully edited and thoughtful job application makes all the difference in the world. If we can tell that you are just blanketing multiple libraries with resumes, you aren't gonna get the time of day. Sorry.

May 04, 2008

I had a meeting with our A.D. on Friday and left it feeling disappointed. Namely, because I wasn't able to clearly articulate what I'm still having trouble with regarding my new responsibilities. I went to the meeting confident because I had outlined, A.) job priorities which I believe need to be addressed as I start my new position and B.) the training I still need to do in order to accomplish A.Needless to say, I don't think we went over A, much less B, in the course of the hour I was in the office. In most ways, this is my own fault. I should have been clearer when I scheduled the meeting. I wanted this time to clarify issues with administration regarding my roles and responsibilities come August. For example, I have a list of priorities that I think need to be done when I first start the job (user profiles and assessment of what our users want and need; a thorough collection analysis; a new CD policy, etc.). B. was the list of training I need in order to do this (determine local procedures for acquisitions, figure out reporting methods and retrieval, survey & profile faculty, etc.). All we talked about were the A.D's ideas for a new acquisitions workflow with IDS. This is going to be a collaboration between C.D. and IDS, but is not actually my workflow to implement, so I was a bit disappointed that we focused so much time and energy on this discussion. I did try to bring the conversation back to my concerns, but was stymied by my lack of vocabulary (as I don't feel savvy or confident yet in the jargon or terminology of my new position) to pull us back. I know its mostly the both of us fumbling our way through a mountain of changes in the library (the A.D. being practically brand-new too, only here since January), but I had hoped for a more mentor-like and "what can I help you with" approach to my situation. Some things I learned...

When scheduling meetings, be clear about the purpose of the time scheduled

Be assertive!! If it is your meeting, be upfront about your need for the parties to keep the discussion on track

Bring an outline of your needs (I did this and brought it with me, and even brought it up at one point, but we still got sidetracked)

Ask for some goals or even state what goals you would like to accomplish and ask for a timeframe

As with all things, practice will make perfect (or as close to it as one can hope to get!).

April 30, 2008

So now that: a) my scholarship application is sent in, b) I've attended the copyright & digital rights workshop, c) arrived home last night from the ALCTS Basic Collection Development & Management workshop, and d) the semester's last day of classes are next Tuesday, I can finally breathe a little!

Still, there is so much to do, but it feels like I am making progress. Since this whole shift started happening in January, I am actually planning and preparing to take over. This past Monday and Tuesday, I attended the CD workshop and although it was more of a refresher course (lots was covered in Ms. Johnson's book) it was a great opportunity to ask questions and interact with some librarians from all over the country. Also, discussed what I learned with colleagues here at Milne and discovered that I will be the person making the changes we have been complaining about for months! Scary thought...

April 21, 2008

Looking forward to next week and attending Peggy Johnson's workshop on Collection Development and Management. Hoping to learn lots! In this spirit of learning and continual education, I've put together my list of what I need to know as I morph into my new role (again, in no particular order):

Our library's holdings; what are our collecting strengths and weaknesses? How do I find this information?

How are our patrons using the collections? ARE they using the collections?

Materials budget: How is it allocated? How is it monitored? How do we spend the budget?

Availability of reports; who knows what information is available? How do I get the information - what will ALEPH give me?

What is our collection development policy (Ok, this one I already know; its OLD, I mean old, I mean 1991 old)

Do we have any cooperative collection development agreements? Currently working on some agreements, I know, with Jenica @ Potsdam and other SUNY comprehensives

Ok, vendors, scary vendors :) Which ones do we use? How do I select vendors? How do I evaluate vendors and their services?

What are the local procedures for: selecting materials, ordering materials, processing materials? How does the ALEPH acquisitions module work?

I will be the first to admit that this would be a WHOLE heck of a lot easier if I could just ask my incumbent these questions, but this is such an awkward position to be in since the subject of leaving the position is not the person's doing. Oh my...Regardless, I hopefully can rely on my SUNY cohorts and network with other collection development librarians in the coming months. So much to do!